Voice mail source address indentification blocking

ABSTRACT

In a voice messaging system, voice mailboxes can be designated as private boxes from which boxes messages can be forwarded, with their source identities concealed, to destination mailboxes. Communication of messages may be between remote VMS systems as well as between mailboxes in the same VMS system. The private designation may be made selectively by a subscriber to the public switched telephone network on a global basis or on an individual basis for each message. The global designation may be toggled on or off at any time by a call to the system with appropriate input from the subscriber. Optionally, the private designation may be made for an individual message during the call in which the message is stored in the subscriber&#39;s mailbox. While information identifying the source of a communicated message is concealed from the recipient, a response message may be communicated from the recipient mailbox back to the source mailbox or a third party mailbox designated by the source subscriber.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to voice mail communication, moreparticularly to the ability to transfer voice mail messages among voice“mailboxes” without relaying address identification of a source mailbox.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Caller ID has become a popular telephone service feature. Caller ID is atelephone on-hook capability that provides a called party withinformation about the caller before the incoming call is answered.Conventionally, such information includes the date and time of the calland the caller's telephone number. A data message, preceded by a channelseizure signal, is sent in conjunction with the ringing signal from thecentral office to the called party during the silent interval after thefirst 20-Hz, 2-second ringing phase. The service offers severaladvantages to the called party subscriber. Identification of the callingparty, as provided by the caller ID service, allows the called party toscreen an incoming call personally before its completion and thereby todecide whether or not it is desirable to answer the call. Nuisancecalls, such as advertising and solicitation calls, can be avoided if theidentity of the caller is determined beforehand. Knowledge of calleridentity also serves as a resource for dealing with and curtailingharassment calls.

Despite its many favorable aspects of which the above noted advantagesare but a few, caller ID has raised objections with respect to callers'rights of privacy. Such rights have conventionally been honored by“nonpublished” and “non-listed” options. A non-listed telephone numberis not printed in a telephone directory but available through operatorassistance. A nonpublished telephone number is neither printed in adirectory nor available through an operator. If the caller numberidentity is made known to a called party caller ID subscriber each timea call is made, the privacy afforded to a caller having an on-listed ornonpublished number is significantly compromised. Further, any callermay find it desirable to place a particular call without revealingorigination identity to the called party. In such case, the caller musttake the risk that the called party line does not subscribe to thecaller ID service.

To accommodate caller privacy, a caller ID block service has beendeveloped, whereby the identity of the call originating line, whichsubscribes to caller ID block, will not be transmitted to the calledparty. Although variations exist in the precise manner in which callerID information selectively may be withheld, ultimately the caller IDdata message simply is not transmitted to the called party station. Withcaller ID blocked, a call is directed to the called party for completionin the standard manner and the caller ID functionality, to which thecalled party has subscribed, is lost.

Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,497,414, issued to Bartholomew on Mar.5, 1996 and to which reference is hereby made, offers several approachesin balancing the competing objectives of the calling party who wishesprivacy and the called party who seeks to know the origination ofincoming calls. These approaches make use of the Advanced IntelligentNetwork (AIN) of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), wherebycall processing is enhanced by a decision making capability. Predefinedcriteria can be applied to calls by screening incoming caller identitiesto determine, for example, whether specific calls are to be completed tothe called parties, with or without caller ID information, or to beforwarded to other destinations. With such control, both the calledparty caller ID subscriber and the calling party caller ID blocksubscriber are given flexibility. The calling party ID block subscribermay define in advance the destinations to which calling identificationneed not be blocked. The called party caller ID subscriber, likewise,may define the origination locations from which calls having blockedcaller ID may be routed to the called party destination.

The provision of privacy is a more complex undertaking in the voice mailenvironment, wherein messages are communicated among voice mailboxesthat require address identification. A voice mail system (VMS) is aspecialized computer system that digitizes, compresses and stores audioand other messages in digital form on one or more disk drives. Voicemail identification is normally associated with the telephone number ofthe voice mail subscriber. As the ability to send return messages is anormal and expected attribute of voice mail communication, data messageprotocol provides for message headings to include both sending andreceiving addresses. Thus, in conventional systems the receiving voicemailbox gains access to the source identity information. Nevertheless,there is a public need for privacy in certain circumstances. For oneexample, a response to an initial message sent by a “battered spouse”may be desired without the answering spouse being able to obtain theoriginating identification that can readily be linked to informationsought to be kept private. Of course, there are many less dramatic andvaried instances requiring privacy.

Audio Message Interchange Specification (AMIS) standards are beingdeveloped to form a common language that network voice mail systems ofdifferent manufacture can support to communicate in an effective manner.An objective is to support the exchange of electronic messages in anymedia among public messaging services and premises-based messagingsystems. Accommodation thus would be made for premises-to-premisesmessaging, messaging between public mail services and private mailsystems, and the exchange of messages between individual public mailservices which otherwise operate in stand alone mode. Public messagetransfer service is defined in CCITT Recommendation F.410.

A simple form of networking voice mail is the use of guest mailboxes, inwhich boxes can be assigned to persons outside the system. Voice mailnetworking can also encompass terminating voice mail on one switch towhich other switches are connected with networking software. Anotheralternative would be to network the voice mail systems themselves.

Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,442, issued to Bartholomew et al.on Oct. 21, 1997 and incorporated by reference herein, contains adetailed description of a system that effects transfer of voice mailmessages among centralized messaging systems, utilizing existingequipment and network facilities that are connected to subscriberterminals. To avoid voice connection to, and ringing at, a recipient'stelephone station when only delivery of a message to the mailbox is tooccur, the voice trunking network and ringing of the telephone stationcorresponding to the recipient mailbox are blocked. An additionalbenefit is a significant lightening of the traffic load on the networktrunking system.

A remaining disadvantage of existing systems is that message sourceaddresses are delivered to the recipient voice mail system. The senderof the voice mail message is subject to risk that the recipient willhave access to the source address and thus the sender's telephonenumber. With such information, the recipient would be able to call thesender even if that telephone number were private. Further information,such as the sender's residence address, also would be subject todiscovery. The need thus exists for the ability to transfer voice mailmessages without relaying address identification of a source mailbox.

In furtherance of this objective, a need exists for providing therecipient of an “anonymous” message with the ability to send a returnmessage even though the identifying information of the originatingmessage had been withheld. For example, the sender of the originalmessage may simply want to receive a response to the message withoutengaging in an interactive conversation. Such a requirement may bedesirable, for example, to avoid a harassing telephone call while stillobtaining requested information in a response message. As anotherexample, service or product information may be requested from a vendorin an initial anonymous message. Such information can be obtained in theresponse message without the requesting party being subjected to a liveinteractive telephone call with an annoying, time consuming sales pitch.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention overcomes the aforementioned problems. Anadvantage of the present invention is that voice mailboxes can bedesignated as private boxes from which boxes messages can be forwarded,with their source identities concealed, to destination mailboxes. Thisability extends to communication of messages between remote VMS systemsas well as communication between mailboxes in the same VMS system.

A further advantage of the invention is that a private designation maybe made selectively by a subscriber to the public switched telephonenetwork on a global basis, wherein all messages to be stored in thesubscriber's mailbox will be treated as private, or on an individualbasis for each message. The global designation may be selected at thetime of subscription to the VMS service, as an automatic adjunct to asubscribed unpublished telephone number that is associated with thesubscriber mailbox, or at any time after subscription to the VMSservice. As an additional feature, the global designation may be toggledon or off at any time by a call to the system with appropriate inputfrom the subscriber. For example, through DTMF key depression at thesubscriber's telephone, a PIN and toggle selection can be entered.Optionally, the private designation may be made for an individualmessage during the call in which the message is stored in thesubscriber's mailbox.

A further advantage of the private feature of the present invention isthat information identifying the source of a communicated message isconcealed from the recipient while permitting a response message to becommunicated from the recipient mailbox back to the source mailbox.Source address data may be erased and set to all zero bits or replacedby a code identifying the session in which the message is sent betweenmailboxes. A flag may be set as an indicator that actual source addressinformation has been deleted. The flag and session code may then be usedby the VMS system of the originating message to identify delivery of theresponse message. The subscriber to the responding mailbox thus wouldnot be informed of the original source mailbox identity and thus have noaccess to the associated telephone number. As an additional variation,the session code may identify a forwarding mailbox, in the same orremote VMS system, to which the response message is to be delivered.

Yet another advantage of the present invention is an anonymous messagerejection option for a mailbox subscriber. With such option, the VMSsystem of the destination mailbox subscriber will automatically blockreceipt of a private message and send a reply message to the originatingvoice mailbox indicating the blocked receipt status of the originalmessage.

Additional advantages of the present invention will become readilyapparent to those skilled in this art from the following detaileddescription, wherein only the preferred embodiment of the invention isshown and described, simply by way of illustration of the best modecontemplated of carrying out the invention. As will be realized, theinvention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its severaldetails are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, allwithout departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings anddescription are to be regarded as illustrative in nature, and not asrestrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference is made to the attached drawings, wherein elements having thesame reference numeral designations represent like elements throughoutand wherein:

FIG. 1 is a simplified partial block diagram of a voice mailimplementing communication system associated with one switching systemof the public switched telephone network in which the invention may bepracticed.

FIG. 2 is a simplified partial block diagram in accordance with thepresent invention in which voice mail communication may occur among aplurality of voice mail systems at remote locations in the publicswitched telephone network.

FIGS. 3a and 3 b are flow charts illustrating operation in which variousprivacy features are provided in accordance with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is a simplified partial block diagram of a voice mailimplementing communication system 20 associated with one switchingsystem of the public switched telephone network in which the inventionmay be practiced. Telephone central office switch 10 may comprise anyconventional switch, such as a 1AESS or 5ESS switch sold by LucentTechnologies, that typically includes, among other components, a spaceor time division switching matrix, a central processing unit, aninput/output device and one or more data communication units. Eachsubscriber has at least one piece of customer premises equipment,illustrated as telephone station sets 12 through 14. Local telephonesubscriber lines 11 serve as communication links between each of thetelephone station sets 12 through 14 and the central office switchingsystem 10. Although shown as telephones in the figure, the subscriberstation equipment can comprise any communication device compatible withthe line. Where the line is a standard voice grade telephone line, forexample, the subscriber station equipment could include facsimiledevices, modems etc.

The centralized message service or voice mail system in the illustratedexample comprises voice messaging equipment such as a voice mail system20. Although referred to as “voice” messaging equipment, equipment 20may have the capability of storing messages of a variety of differenttypes as well as voice messages. For example, a single system 20 mayreceive incoming messages in the form of audible messages, such as voicemessages, as well as text format data messages. The voice messagingequipment 20 may also store messages in an image data format, such asfacsimile. Message service systems having the capability to storemessages in a variety of audible, data and image formats are known, seee.g. U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,110 to Jones et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,926 toMisholi and U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,700 to Matthews et al.

The illustrated voice mail system 20 includes a digital switching system(DSS) 21, a master control unit (MCU) 23, a number of voice processingunits (VPU's) 25 and a master interface unit (MIU) or concentrator 27.The master control unit (MCU) 23 is a personal computer type deviceprogrammed to control overall operations of the system 20. Each of thevoice processing units 25 also is a personal computer type device. Thevoice processing units 25 each may include or connect to one or moredigital mass storage type memory units (not shown) in which the actualmessages are stored. The mass storage units, for example, may comprisemagnetic disc type memory devices. Although not specifically illustratedin the drawing, the voice processing units 25 also include appropriatecircuitry to transmit and receive audio signals via T1 type digitalaudio lines. To adapt the system 20 to receive information other thanvoice and/or offer services other than voice mail, one or more of VPU's25 might be reprogrammed to run other types of applications and/orprocess other types of incoming information. For example, one such unitmight process facsimile information, one might process E-mail, etc.

An ETHERNET type digital network 29 carries data signals between the MCU23 and the voice processing units 25. The Ethernet network 29 alsocarries stored messages, in digital data form, between the various voiceprocessing units 25. The system 20 further includes T1 type digitizedaudio links between the DSS switch 21 and each of the voice processingunits 25.

The voice mail system 20 is connected to the central office switchingsystem 10 via a number of simplified message desk interface (SMDI) typedata lines 41, only one of which is illustrated for simplicity. TheseSMDI links connect between one or more data units (not shown) in the endoffice switching system 10 and the MIU 27 in system 20. Each SMDI linemay carry 2400 baud RS-232 data signals or higher in both directionsbetween the voice mail system 20 and the switching system 10. The MIU 27is a data concentrator which effectively provides a single connection ofas many as thirty two SMDI lines into the MCU 23 of the voice mailsystem.

The voice mail system 20 also connects to the end office switchingsystem 10 via a number of voice lines 43 which form a multi-line huntgroup (MLHG) between the switch matrix within the switching system 10and the DSS switch 21 of the voice mail system 20. Typically, the MLHGlines 43 consist of a number of T1 type trunk circuits which each carrytwenty four voice channels in digital time division multiplexed format.

Ring count change interface 51, connected to the Ethernet network 29,provides two-way data communication between the network 29 in the voicemail system 20 and a multiservices platform (MSP) 53. For example, theunit 51 might provide a 9600 baud data channel over a line to theplatform 53. The interface 51 will receive packets of data over theEthernet network 29 indicating changes in the status of the varioussubscribers' mailboxes. These packets of data will identify a particularsubscriber and indicate the number a number of rings for future use inprocessing calls for that subscriber. The interface 51 forwards the ringcount change data packets to the platform 53. The interface alsoreceives data signals from the MSP 53, for example acknowledgements oftransmitted data and/or signals indicating actual changes of statusinformation by the switching system 10. In enhanced embodiments, theinterface might include some data processing capabilities, as well.Also, the interface can provide instructions to change some otherparameter of the call forwarding procedure, such as the subscriber'sforwarding number.

The multiservices platform 53 is connected to the central officeswitching system 10 via a recent change-memory administration channel(RC-MAC) 55. RC-MAC 55 is a data link to the processor of the switchingsystem 10 for inputting data into the translation tables used by theswitching system 10 to control switched communications operations withregard to each subscriber's line. The multiservices platform is aprocessor for receiving various service change instructions, includingthose from the interface 51 and from other sources, processing theinstructions as necessary to make them compatible with switchprogramming, and forwarding instructions to the switching system 10 tochange specific relevant translation table data stored in the switchingsystem. In response to the change of status data from the ring countinterface 51, the multiservices platform 53 provides appropriate datapacket signals on the RC-MAC channel 55 to the end office switchingsystem 10 to change a particular subscriber's ring count for forwardingon no answer. The instructions from the MSP 53 will identify a specificsubscriber's line and will specify a ring count or ringing interval foruse in determining when a call for that subscriber has gone unansweredand should be forwarded to the voice mail system 20. The multiservicesplatform may also forward instructions to change other parameters of thecall forwarding function. Reference is made to commonly assigned U.S.Pat. No. 5,012,511 to Hanle et al., for a more detailed description ofoperation via an RC-MAC channel.

In operation, calls can be forwarded to the voice mail system 20 inresponse to calls to subscriber's lines. The switching system 10 mayalso route some calls directly to the voice mail system 20 in responseto callers dialing a telephone number assigned to the lines going to thevoice mail system 20. When the end office switching system 10 directs acall to the voice mail system 20, whether as a forwarded call or as adirect call in response to dialing of a number for accessing the system20, the switching system places the call on any available channel on themulti-line hunt group lines 43. When the central office switching system10 forwards a call to the voice mail system 20, the switching system 10will also provide various data relating to the call via one of the SMDIlinks 41 and the MIU 27. In particular, the switching system 110transmits data to the MCU 23 of the voice mail system 20 indicatingwhich line of the multi-line hunt group 143, i.e. which T1 trunk andwhich channel on the trunk, that the new call will come in on. Theexchange 10 also transmits data via SMDI link 41 identifying the calledtelephone number and the telephone number of the caller. For a callforwarded to a mailbox, the data from the exchange indicates the reasonfor the forwarding, and the caller telephone number (typically thedirectory number assigned to the called subscriber's normal telephoneline) identifies the subscriber to which the forwarded call relates. Themaster control unit 23 uses the multi-line hunt group line informationand the subscriber's directory number to internally route the forwardedcall though DSS switch 21 and one of the internal T1 links to anavailable voice processing unit 25 and identifies the relevantsubscriber to that voice processing unit via the Ethernet 25.

For each party who subscribes to a voice mail service provided by thecentralized messaging system 20, the MCU 23 stores informationdesignating one of the voice processing units 25 as the “home” unit forthat subscriber. Each voice processing unit 25 stores generic elementsof prompt messages in a common area of its memory. Personalized elementsof prompt messages, for example recorded representations of eachsubscriber's name spoken in the subscriber's own voice, are stored indesignated memory locations within the subscriber's “home” voiceprocessing unit. In voice mail systems of the type discussed above, asubscriber's “mailbox” does not actually correspond to a particular areaof memory. Instead, the messages are stored in each “mailbox” by storingappropriate identification or tag data to identify the subscriber orsubscriber's mailbox to which each message corresponds.

Each time a call comes in to the voice mail system 20, the mastercontrol unit 23 controls the digital switching system 21 to provide amultiplexed voice channel connection through to one of the voiceprocessing units 25. Typically, the call connection goes to the “home”voice processing unit for the relevant subscriber. The voice mailsubscriber is identified by data transmitted from the switching system10, as described above, if the call is a forwarded call. If all twentyfour T1 channels to the “home” voice processing unit are engaged, thecentral processing unit 23 controls switch 21 to route the call toanother voice processing unit 25 which is currently available. The voiceprocessing unit connected to the call retrieves prompt messages and/orpreviously stored messages from its memory and transmits them back tothe calling party via the internal T1 line 28, the DSS switch 21 one ofthe MLHG lines 43, central office switching system 10 and the callingparty's telephone line. The voice processing unit 25 connected to thecall receives incoming messages from the caller through a similar routeand stores those messages in digital form in its associated mass storagedevice. When the incoming call is a forwarded call, the connected voiceprocessing unit 25 provides an answering prompt message to the caller,typically including a personalized message recorded by the calledsubscriber. After the prompt, the voice processing unit 25 records amessage from the caller and identifies that stored message as one forthe called subscriber's mailbox.

At times the connected voice processing unit 25 will not have allnecessary outgoing messages stored within its own associated memory. Forexample, a forwarded call normally will be connected to the calledsubscriber's “home” voice processing unit 25, but if the home unit isnot available the forwarded call will be connected to a voice processingunit 25 other than the subscriber's home voice processing unit. In sucha case, the connected unit 25 requests and receives from the home unit25 the personalized components of the answering prompt message via thedata network 29. The connected voice processing unit 25 will store thetransferred message data in its own memory, and when necessary, willplay back the transferred data from its own memory as outgoing messagesin the exact same manner as for any prompts or greeting messagesoriginally stored in its own memory.

The connected voice processing unit 25 also will store any incomingmessage in its own associated memory together with data identifying themessage as one stored for the called subscriber's mailbox. As a result,the system 20 actually may store a number of messages for any givensubscriber or mailbox in several different voice processing units 25.Subsequently, when the voice mail subscriber calls in to the voice mailsystem 20 to access the subscriber's mailbox, the call is connected toone voice processing unit 25. Again, this call typically goes to thehome unit 25 but would go to a different available one of the units 25if the home unit is not available at the time. In response toappropriate DTMF control signals received from the subscriber, theconnected voice processing unit retrieves the subscriber's messages fromits own memory and plays the messages back to the subscriber. If anymessages are stored in other voice processing units, the connected unit25 sends a request the other units 25 to download any messages for thesubscriber's mailbox those units have actually stored. The downloadedmessages are stored in the memory of the connected voice processing unit25 which replays them to the subscriber.

FIG. 2 is a simplified illustration of a network in which a plurality ofremote voice mail systems serve subscribers of respective central officeswitches of the public switched telephone network. Central officeswitches 10, 60 and 80 are representative of a large plurality of suchswitches in a network such as the AIN network. For simplicity ofillustration, a great many of the network details, which are notnecessary for explanation of the present invention, have not been shownin the drawing figure. Reference is again made to commonly assigned U.S.Pat. No. 5,680,442 for a more detailed description of the AIN network.Subscribers 12 through 14 have local line connections to central officeswitch 10 and are assumed to have voice mail service provided by theassociated VMS 20. Similarly, subscribers 62 through 64 are served byVMS 65 via their central office switch 60 and subscribers 82 through 84are served by VMS 85 via their central office switch 80. VMS systems 20,65 and 85 are linked by a data exchange network 90 for exchange of voicemail messages among the VMS systems. Data network 90 may comprise a highspeed data network, for example an FDDI link, or may be incorporatedinto the common channel signaling network of the PSTN as disclosed inthe aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,442. In operation, each of theVMS systems comprises mailbox storage allocations for the associatedcentral office subscribers for functional interaction as described abovewith respect to FIG. 1. The transfer of stored messages is not limitedto mailboxes within an individual VMS system but may occur betweenmailboxes in remote VMS systems. Thus, for example, subscriber 12 mayhave a message delivered from his mailbox in VMS 20 not only to themailbox corresponding to subscriber 14 in the same VMS 20, but also tothe mailbox in VMS 85 that is assigned to subscriber 84.

FIGS. 3a and 3 b are flow charts illustrating operation in which variousprivacy features are provided in accordance with the invention. The flowchart of FIG. 3a depicts interaction between the sender of a message andthe VMS system or systems for delivery of an initial message. It isassumed, for example, that subscriber 12 seeks to transfer a voice mailmessage to a specified recipient's mailbox. The message may beformulated by the subscriber at the session in which transfer isrequested or may have been previously stored in the mailbox ofsubscriber 12. At step 100, subscriber 12 initiates a call to the VMS 20via central office switch 10. At step 102, an interactive session takesplace between subscriber 12 and VMS 20, wherein information is obtainedas to message privacy and availability for receipt of a response messageat the private mailbox or designation of a third party mailboxdestination for a response message. During this session, for example,the global privacy status of the mailbox may be toggled on or off, orprivate/nonprivate status of only the current message can be set. Thisinformation may be obtained through a voice response mechanism orthrough DTMF input. The message is stored in digital format withappropriate header identification information at the mailboxcorresponding to subscriber 12. If the message is not private, asdetermined in step 104, the message is forwarded to the destinationmailbox in step 106. If the recipient destination is a mailbox withinVMS 20, such as the mailbox for subscriber 14, data exchange network 90is not required for transfer to a remote VMS. If the recipientdestination is a remote mailbox, such as one in VMS 85 that correspondsto subscriber 84, the message is transmitted over a data network such asdata exchange network 90 of the common channel signaling network of thePSTN.

If the message has been designated private, as determined in step 104, aflag will be set to indicate that identification of the source mailboxof the message is not to be included in the message heard by theretrieving party. The flag will be related to the current messagesession in which the source mailbox identification and other necessarysession information is stored separately in the sending VMS storagefacility. Additional flag related information may be required independence upon whether a response message was authorized as determinedin step 110. If no response has been authorized, the message is thenforwarded to the destination mailbox as in step 106. The recipient willthus have access to the spoken content of the message but will not beable to identify the source location nor send a return message. Thesender thus can avoid any unwanted, possibly harassing or annoying,communication from the recipient.

If it is determined in step 110 that a response message has beenauthorized, a further determination is made in step 112 as to whetherthe response message is to be delivered to the source of the initialmessage, i.e., mailbox of subscriber 12, or a third party mailbox. Withsuch options, the sender can avoid direct return communication from therecipient by diverting a return message through a third party in thelatter option. In the former option, the sender can obtain a neededvoice response without being subject to a harassing or annoyinginteractive phone call. It may be assumed that the actual voice messagecontent will also inform the message recipient of the intended responsemessage forwarded destination.

If it is determined in step 112 that a response message is to bereturned to subscriber 12's mailbox, in step 114 a code related to theflag and stored session information will be inserted in place of whatwould normally be the source address portion of the message. If insteadit is determined in step 112 that the response message is to bedelivered to a third party mailbox, such as that of subscriber 64 in VMS65, the address of that location is inserted in the source addressportion of the original message at step 116. The message is thenforwarded to the destination mailbox in step 106.

The code inserted in the source address portion of the message can beused as a reference in a received response address by the VMS 20 toaccess the session information in its separate storage facility totranslate the destination of the response message to the subscriber 12mailbox address. If the recipient of the original message is a mailboxin a remote VMS, such as the mailbox for subscriber 84, a high measureof security is provided as the VMS 85 does not receive identification ofthe source of the message.

The flow chart of FIG. 3b illustrates a voice mail session in which amessage, such as the one forwarded in the operation of FIG. 3a, isretrieved from a recipient's mailbox. At step 200, the recipientaccesses the subscribed mailbox. As in the example of FIG. 3a, therecipient mailbox may be that of subscriber 14 in VMS 20 or ofsubscriber 84 in VMS 85. The recipient VMS then checks for a flag in themessage in step 204 to determine whether the message is private. If not,the voice message session may take any conventional course in step 206until completed. If it is determined in step 204 that the message isprivate, then at step 208 determination is made as to whether therecipient has subscribed to an anonymous message rejection option. Ifso, in step 210 a rejection message notifying of the non-delivery of themessage is returned to the mailbox of subscriber 12, either directly ifthe recipient mailbox is served by the original sender's VMS 20, orthrough the translation by the VMS 20 of the code inserted in the returnmessage by the remote VMS 85. Optionally, a rejection message may beplaced in the recipient mailbox that informs of a rejected attempt todeliver thereto an anonymous message.

If the anonymous message has not been rejected, as determined in step208, the message is played to the recipient subscriber who then may havean option to send a response message unless unauthorized by the originalsender. If no response message occurs, as determined in step 212, thesession ends. If it is determined in step 212 that a response message isto be forwarded, the subscriber formulates the message at step 214. Themessage is digitized by the recipient's VMS at step 216 with the flagincluded and coded source information inserted as destination address.The coded source information may be either the session code or the thirdparty address as it appears in the original message. The responsemessage may be stored temporarily at the mailbox of the recipient forfuture delivery or delivered immediately, depending on variousconditions in the VMS system. If the VMS system of the responder isremote from the destination VMS, the time of transmission may dependupon data network conditions.

In preparation of delivery of the response message, at step 218 theresponding VMS determines from coded source address and flag if thedestination is a third party mailbox. The coded information sufficientto identify the destination VMS and either the third party address orthe code to be translated to the original sender's address. If a thirdparty address is determined in step 218, at step 220 the responsemessage is delivered to the destination mailbox. If this mailbox is inthe same VMS the response message is forwarded directly. If appropriatethe third party mailbox is in a remote VMS system, the message isforwarded through the data exchange network 90. If the response messageis to be delivered to the original message source, as determined in step218, the original VMS, whether the same as or remote from the responseVMS, will decode the source address information of the response messagein accordance with its stored session data to identify the destinationof the response message and forward the response message to theappropriate mailbox.

In this disclosure there is shown and described only the preferredembodiments of the invention and but a few examples of its versatility.It is to be understood that the invention is capable of use in variousother combinations and environments and is capable of changes ormodifications within the scope of the inventive concept as expressedherein. For example, variations in privacy and rejection options can beoffered to mailbox subscribers without departing from the concepts ofthis invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a voice mail system having addressable storagefor storing digital format voice mail messages in mailboxes associatedwith respective telephone numbers of a plurality of served subscribersthat are connectable to the voice mail system through respective localloops of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and at least onetelephone central switching office, the digital voice mail messagescomprising header identification and voice information content, a methodfor communicating voice mail messages between the voice mailboxescomprising the steps of: designating at least one of the voice mailboxesas a private voice mailbox; storing a voice mail message received by thevoice mail system from a first subscriber in the first subscriber'sassociated voice mailbox; in response to a request from the firstsubscriber to transfer the voice mail message stored in the storing stepto an identified second subscriber voice mailbox, determining whetherthe first subscriber voice mailbox is designated private; in response toa private designation determination in said determining step, concealingthe identification of the first subscriber voice mailbox in the headerportion of the message; and forwarding the message, with theidentification of the first subscriber voice mailbox concealed, to thesecond subscriber voice mailbox.
 2. A method as recited in claim 1,wherein the step of designating comprises establishing a global privacystatus for all messages to be stored in the private box.
 3. A method asrecited in claim 2, wherein the establishing step is initiated uponsubscription by the subscriber to the voice mail system.
 4. A method asrecited in claim 2, wherein the designating step further comprisessetting the privacy status in response to a privacy indicator set in thePSTN for the subscriber telephone number associated with the privatebox.
 5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the establishing stepcomprises the steps of: receiving a call that requests privacy statusfrom a calling subscriber; and toggling the global status of the mailboxassociated with the calling subscriber from non-private to private.
 6. Amethod as recited in claim 5, further comprising the steps of: receivinga call that requests a change of privacy status from the callingsubscriber; and toggling the status of the mailbox associated with thecalling subscriber from private to non-private.
 7. A method as recitedin claim 1, wherein the step of designating comprises selectivelysetting a privacy status for each message stored in the designated voicemailbox.
 8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the step ofselectively setting occurs during a calls from the subscriber of thedesignated voice mailbox to the voice mail system, in which a message isformulated.
 9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the concealingstep comprises erasing source identifying data from the header portionof the message and the forwarding step comprises setting a flag in themessage.
 10. A method as recited in 9, wherein the concealing stepfurther comprises replacing the erased source identifying data withcoded data related to the flag.
 11. A method as recited in claim 9,further comprising the steps of: forming a response message to be sentfrom the second subscriber voice mailbox to a receiving voice mailbox inresponse to input received from a user of the second subscriber mailbox;entering data related to the flag in the response message; identifying avoice mailbox for receiving the response message from the data enteredin the entering step; and delivering the response message to thereceiving voice mailbox identified in the identifying step.
 12. A methodas recited in claim 11, wherein the flag related data of the enteringstep is entered as a destination address in the header portion of theresponse message.
 13. A method as recited in claim 11, wherein thereceiving voice mailbox is the first subscriber voice mailbox.
 14. Amethod as recited in claim 11, wherein the receiving voice mailbox is amailbox other than the first subscriber voice mailbox.
 15. A method asrecited in claim 14, wherein the receiving voice mailbox is stored at alocation remote from the voice mail system and interconnected theretovia the public switched telephone network.
 16. A method as recited inclaim 1, further comprising the step of selectively tagging, in responseto input from the first subscriber, the voice mail message for blockingreceipt of reply messages.
 17. A method as recited in claim 1, furthercomprising the steps of: determining whether the second subscriber voicemailbox has been designated for rejecting anonymous voice mail messages;and blocking receipt of the voice mail message at the second subscribermailbox in response an anonymous message rejection determination if aprivate designation determination was made in said determining step. 18.A method as recited in claim 17, wherein the blocking step furthercomprises sending a reply message to the first subscriber voice mailboxindicating the blocked receipt status of the original voice mailmessage.
 19. In a switched communication network including first andsecond interconnected central office switching systems each connected toa plurality of subscriber lines to which subscriber communicationequipment may be coupled, each of the first and second central officeswitching systems coupled to an associated centralized voice messagingsystem having addressable storage associated respectively with voicemailboxes of the subscriber lines, a method for communicating voicemessages between the centralized voice messaging systems comprising:designating at least one of the voice mailboxes of a first one of thecentralized voice messaging systems as a private box; storing a voicemail message directed to a destination voice mailbox of a second one ofthe centralized voice messaging systems in a source voice mailbox of thefirst centralized voice messaging system; determining whether the sourcevoice mailbox is designated private; in response to a privatedetermination in the determining step, concealing the identification ofthe first subscriber voice mailbox in a data portion of the message; andforwarding the message, with the identification of the first subscribermailbox concealed, to the destination voice mailbox in the secondcentralized voice messaging system.
 20. A method as recited in claim 19,wherein the forwarding step comprises the steps of: forming sessionidentifying data for transmission of the message; formatting the messagein one or more packets having data header portions and message contentportions in accordance with a data network protocol; and transmittingthe message to the second centralized voice messaging system; and theconcealing step comprises erasing source mailbox address data from thedata header portions.
 21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein theconcealing step further comprises the steps of: replacing the erasedsource mailbox address data with session code data; and setting a flagin the data header portions.
 22. A method as recited in claim 21,further comprising the steps of: formulating a response message at thesecond centralized voice messaging system to be sent to a receivingmailbox; entering session code data in a destination address portion ofthe response message; transmitting the response message to the firstcentralized voice messaging system; identifying, at the firstcentralized voice messaging system, the receiving mailbox for theresponse message in accordance with the data entered in the enteringstep; and delivering the response message to the receiving mailboxidentified in the identifying step.
 23. A method as recited in claim 22,wherein the receiving mailbox is the source voice mailbox of the firstcentralized voice messaging system.
 24. A method as recited in claim 22,wherein the receiving mailbox is a mailbox other than the source voicemailbox.
 25. A method as recited in claim 24, wherein the receivingmailbox is located remote from the first centralized voice messagingsystem.